DA calls for PSC intervention for over 80 GCRA employees pocketing salaries for doing nothing

24 July 2023

Gauteng City Region Academy employees (GCRA) have been absent from work, and the offices are empty, yet they continue to receive salaries.

More than 80 GCRA employees, including directors, assistant directors, and junior employees, are not coming to work.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng conducted an oversight inspection at the Gauteng Department of Education GCRA offices at 55 Fox Street in Johannesburg today.

We were shocked to discover that offices were empty and employees were not at work. Few individuals were present. The DA was informed by these employees that they told the DA they come to the office daily to do nothing.

It is not clear why the GCRA CEO hired a consulting company to do the work while employees are not utilised optimally. Furthermore, the department is paying rent for a building that is not fully utilised, which is a waste of money.

The Auditor General made damning findings against the CEO, and to date, the department has failed to implement the recommendations. Instead, the department continues to shield the CEO at the expense of taxpayers' money. The DA reiterates its demands for the CEO to account and be fired.

The DA will write to the Public Service Commission (PSC) to investigate why more than 80 employees are paid every month without active duty.

We further call on the Education Portfolio Committee in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to attend to this issue by holding the MEC to account.

Issued by Khume Ramulifho, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Education, 24 July 2023